What a synopsis is
A synopsis is a plain prose summary of your whole story. It's written in the present tense, it covers the main events in the order the book tells them, and it includes the ending.
That last part matters, because a synopsis isn't a blurb. A blurb teases a reader into buying the book. A synopsis tells an agent what actually happens. If yours ends on "but can she escape?", it's a blurb wearing the wrong name badge.
Why agents ask for one
Your sample chapters show an agent how you write. The synopsis shows them how the story works. It proves the middle doesn't sag and the ending lands rather than evaporates. It also tells them what kind of book this is, so they can judge whether they're the right person to represent it.
Agents don't expect a synopsis to be beautiful. They expect it to be clear.
How long should a synopsis be?
For UK agencies, a single page is the safe default, somewhere around five hundred words. Some want less, some want more, and some don't ask for one at all.
Much of the synopsis advice online is American, and American conventions run longer, so don't worry if you've seen a thousand words recommended elsewhere. There's no universal rule. Check each agency's submission guidelines before you send anything, and if no length is given, one clean page will never count against you.
Do you give away the ending?
Yes. All of it, including the twist. An agent needs to know you can end a book, and they can't judge that from a tease. You're not spoiling anyone's reading experience; an agent reads a synopsis the way a builder reads a plan. If the twist is good, showing it works in your favour.
What to include
A page holds less than you think, so you need to be selective about what you include. Give space to:
- Your main character, what they want, and what stands in the way.
- The events that turn the story, in the order the book tells them, each one causing the next.
- The moments where the stakes rise.
- How it ends, and what the ending costs.
Leave subplots out unless the ending doesn't make sense without them. Name as few characters as you can. Three or four names is plenty, and everyone else can be "her sister" or "the detective". Themes stay out too. If the book is about grief, the events will show it.
How to write it, step by step
- Tell the story in one sentence. Who wants what, what's in the way, and what's at stake. It'll feel brutal. That's fine; this sentence is the spine everything else hangs from.
- Grow the sentence into a paragraph. Beginning, middle, end. Set up the world and the want, cover the major turns, state the ending.
- Grow the paragraph into a page. Give each stretch of the story two or three sentences. The opening situation, the event that sets things moving, the escalation, the crisis, the climax, the resolution.
- Cut the clutter. Subplots, minor names, backstory, scenery. Keep asking whether the ending still makes sense without a line. If it does, the line goes.
- Read it aloud. Present tense throughout, plain sentences, events in order. If a line clunks or you run out of breath, split it.
A worked example
Here's the shape, using a story you already know.
Elizabeth Bennet is the second of five daughters in a family whose estate will pass away from them, so the sisters must marry or face poverty. When the wealthy Mr Bingley takes a nearby house, Elizabeth meets his friend Mr Darcy, who slights her, and she resolves to dislike him. Darcy, against his own judgement, falls for her and proposes. Elizabeth refuses him, citing his pride and his part in separating Bingley from her sister Jane. Stung, Darcy writes her a letter answering the charges, and Elizabeth begins to doubt her own judgement of him. When her youngest sister elopes with the disgraced Mr Wickham and the family's reputation hangs by a thread, Darcy quietly arranges the marriage that saves them. Elizabeth learns what he has done. When Darcy proposes again, she accepts, and Jane and Bingley are reunited too.
That's Pride and Prejudice in about a hundred and forty words. Present tense, five named characters, every event causing the next, and the ending in plain sight. Yours needs to do the same, with a little more room to breathe.
Common mistakes
- Teasing. "But can she escape?" belongs on a back cover. Say that she escapes, and how.
- Reviewing your own book. "This gripping, heartbreaking debut" is a verdict, and verdicts are the agent's to make. Stick to events.
- The chapter-by-chapter trudge. A synopsis follows the story, not the chapter breaks. "In chapter four" is a sign you're summarising the structure instead of the tale.
- A crowd of names. Every name costs the reader effort. Spend them only on people the ending needs.
- Explaining themes. "This novel explores identity and belonging" tells an agent nothing the story shouldn't show.
- Going long. A tight page reads as control. Three dense pages read as a warning.
Synopsis, blurb, covering letter
Three different jobs, often confused. The blurb sells the book to readers and hides the ending. The covering letter introduces you and your book to an agent, in your own voice. The synopsis tells the whole story, ending included. Keep the charm in the letter, keep the voice in the sample, and keep the facts in the synopsis.
Before you send it
Synopsis requirements vary more than you'd expect. Check the guidelines for each agency before you send.
And remember, the manuscript sample proves the writing, the synopsis proves the story. Make it easy to follow and easy to recall.